Credit
Bureaus

The Three Major
Credit Bureaus are:

Trans Union
- (800) 916-8800

Experian (formerly
TRW) - (888) 397-3742

Equifax - (800) 685-1111

A credit bureau
collects and maintains information on the majority of Americans, but they
are not affiliated with the government in any way. The credit bureaus are
for-profit corporations and they sell your personal information for money.
How much money? To give you an idea, Experian's annual sales exceed $1.6 billion.
Credit bureaus make money by gathering your credit information from credit
grantors, listing the information in your credit file, then selling it to
other credit grantors who want to see your credit history before they decide
to lend you money. Credit bureaus get your personal information from the same
lenders who grant you credit through agreements they have made that require
the credit grantor to inform the credit bureau of everything that occurs in
your relationship with the credit grantor.